Sander



March 17, 1953 G. H. cRoUsE SANDER A 2 SHEETS- SHEET l Filed July 5l, 1951 HHIJUWUJ" lmvENToR G. H. cnous E ATTORN March 17, 1953 G H, CROUSE 2,631,874

SANDER Filed July 5l, 1951 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 FlG. 2

FIG. 5

INVENTOR Patented Mar. 17, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SANDER Garrett H. Crouse, Baltimore, Md.

Application July 31, 1951, Serial No. 239,523

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a traction sander for automobiles and has for its principal object the provision of a sanding device in which the flow of sand is controlled by slides so arranged that the device will always be ready for service.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for blowing fresh air into a sand reser- Voir close to the port or ports of exit.

A still further object of the invention is provide a sanding system for automobiles which the sand hoppers or reservoirs are so Shaped as to provide for excellent discharge of the sand and yet to be mounted in the trunk of an automobile without encroaching too greatly on the storage space.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the device as mounted in the trunk of an automobile;

Figure 2 is a detail of a slide operating magnet;

Figure 3 shows the dash control.

Traction Sanders have been used for a great many years in connection with locomotives and many attempts have been made to modify these for use with automobiles. Tests of previously known Sanders indicate that where the motor exhaust is used for sand discharge there is entirely too much condensation from the pipes and this dampens the sand in the sand tanks and clogs the valves. This diiiiculty is eliminated in the present device by having a relatively small motor-driven blower which discharges fresh air under pressure near the point of discharge of the sand from the sand hopper. A further objection to previous devices which use slides for controlto in ling the volume of sand discharged and move the slides between leather facings the slides become corroded possibly due to an acid content of the leather. By substituting felt for leather all difficulty with sticking valves has been eliminated.

Referring to Fig. 1J there are two hoppers Ill and Il the tops of which extend from side to side of the trunk compartment of an automobile, located as high as possible but leaving space so that the openings I2 can be used to ll the hoppers with sand. These openings I2 are closed in any desired manner as, for example, by a lid i4 or a sliding closure such as l5. I prefer that both sides of each hopper shall slope, the outside wall i3 sloping materially less than the inner wall l1. While the sizes may vary within wide limits depending upon the type of automobile, I nd a very convenient size to be Il high over all, about l" thick front and back with an over-all width at the top of the two hoppers of about 44". The device illustrated in Fig. llis quite a bit deeper relatively and these hoppers need only be 4 from front to back. In any `event the two hoppers should provide between them a space bounded by the wall of the trunk and the two sloping walls Il of the twin hoppers to provide a compartment which will accommodate the motor, the blower and other accessories with minimum diminution of the storage space in the trunk.

The two hoppers each have a base 22 above the iiaring skirt 9, such base having a pair of openings 23 and 24 leading to divergent nipples 25 and 26 threaded as at 21 for connection to tubes, one leading to a point just in front of the contact with the ground of a rear tire while a L similar tube joined to the other nipple would Aavoids all sticking of the steel slides.

lead to a point just behind the same rear wheel. The slides are numbered 3l and 32 each having a beveled end 33 which can be moved to engage the felt coating 34 surrounding a central bar or bridge 35 forming the boundary between the openings or ports 23 and 24. On both sides of the slides 3| and 32, above and below, are layers I8 of felt. This material is ideal for the purpose and The thickness of the felt should be about as great as the thickness of the slide, a minimum of a quarter of an inch being preferred.

Practice indicates that the sand may not discharge from the lioppers thru the openings 23 or 24 in a perfectly satisfactory manner unless there is a discharge of air just above the bridge 35. I therefore mount in each of the hoppers IB and l! an air discharge pipe 3l, having a down-f turned end 38 which ends in a Haring nozzle 39. The nozzle could be spaced over the opening 23 or the opening 24 but I find the best results are achieved when the nozzle is directly over the bridge 25 and the angle of the flare is such as to form a cone which would intersect the plane of the base 22 within the openings 23 and 24 so that the full effect of the blast of air would be had over the two openings at a point just above the slides. Each of the pipes 31 lead from the compartment 4E which is a pressure air reservoir fed by a blower 4l preferably directly connected to the blower motor 132.

In case the equipment should be factory installed the major portion of the sand hoppers could be located inside the automobile body (steel top only) with filler closures on the outside near the rain defiector gutter but the slides and blower would be in the trunk space. It is my intention that the blower motor be operated 3 independently of the slides and that it be started at the irst indication of slick conditions. A light on the dash will be lit when this motor is operating and this will serve as a pilot to 1ocate the adjacent switch governing the slides discharging in front of the rear wheels.

While there are many specific arrangements by which the valve slides 3l and 32 could be moved, 1 have illustrated in Figure 2 a convenient form. the embodiment there shown, which is illustrative only, Valve slide 32, which is a flat piece of metal or plastic, carries a stem 45 whichA is the armature of a solenoid 45. When the coill 41 of the solenoid is energized the rod 45 and the slide 32 are pulled to open position, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, against the urge of spring 48 which normally holds the slide in c losedposition with its downwardly beveled point 33 in light contact with the heavy felt covering 34 of theA bridge 35. As previously stated, the electrical connections are illustrausiveV only. In my last model I usedY circular magnets which are excellent and take up Very little space. They are also readily adjustable takingthe place of the stop-washer 4,9 which is. threaded on the stern or armature 4,5 for adjusting the amount of opening of the slides when their coils are energized.

In Figure 3 is shownv the addition tothe dash. The support 59 is a rolled angle. bracket carrying three simple pull switches 5|, 52 and. 53 connected respectively to the blower motor, the slides 3i, and the slides 32. I much prefer signal lights above each switch` to show that that element isv energized, for example, a yellow light 55: over the blower` switch 5l, a green light 56 over the forward discharge slide switch 52A and a red light 57 over the rear-of-the-wheel discharge slide switch 53.

While I can readily have a single rotary switch on the dash with ve positions: off.; blowerrnotor only; blower plus slides 3|; blower plus slides 32; and blower plus slides 3| and slides 32, there is always danger that in an emergency an excited driver might turn this switch to. the wrong position so my preference, based on extended use, is tov have the three pull switches as shown in Fig. 3: as` in this way the driver first pulls the rst switch as soon as it seems an emergency might develop. The excess currentv is slight as the blower only` gives apressure of about two. inches of water. The lightv 55 is readily; seen and when sand is; requiredA the driver (leavingswitch 5i pulled out)v pllllS the middle switch and does not applyy his; brakes, until her sees by the green light 4 that sand is flowing. This makes the device almost fool-proof. The air keeps the sand in motion and ready to start the instant the slide is opened.

What I claim is:

1. A sanding device for automobiles including a sand reservoir having a base in which there is an opening, a bar crossing the opening to form two passageways for discharge of the sand, a closurev` for each of the two passageways, means for opening and closing the closures, and air discharging means including a pipe having a single nozzle discharging a stream of air down ward on the bar and into both of the two passageways.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the pipe has a ared nozzle, and means are provided for controlling the operation of the air discharging means independently o f the movement o1' position of the closures, whereby the air may be discharged prior to the opening of either of the closures.

3. The device of claim l in which the closures are reciprocating plates moving toward and away from the bar, the closure operating means include electrof-magnets positioned away from the margins of the reservoir base, and means are provided for adjustment at will of the amount of the travel of the plates, whereby to control the amount of said which may passY thru either of the two passageways.

GARRETT H. CROUSE.

REFERENCESv CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED. STATES. PATENTS Number Name Date 741,116 De France Oct. 13, 1903 824,118 Hogan June26, 1905 1,117,894 Orbin Nov. 17, 1914 1,244,726 Groehringv et al; Oct. 30, 1917 1,420,861 Porter et al. June 27, 1922 1,765,772 Reese June 24, 1930 1,783,834 Everetts Dec. 2, 1930 1,842,506 Brueggeman Jan. 26, 1932 1,975,346 Borchek etal. Oct. 2, 1934 2,154,340 Legoff' et al Apr. l1, 1939 2,207,169 Todd July 9, 1940 2,244,069 Kook et al June 3, 1941 2,437,788 Richard' Mar. 16, 19.48 2,480,096 Hoffman Aug. 23,v 1949 2,587,072v Sundheim Feb. 26, 1952 

